Medical Marijuana in Canada

I don’t know if there are other routes, but this should be available countrywide. Medical marijuana has switched my chronic pain off, so here are the steps for getting it prescribed:

Get an application form from Marijuana For Trauma, which is run by veterans, primarily for veterans but will take civilians too. To find the centre nearest you: https://mftgroup.ca/.

Ask your GP to give you a written diagnosis and copies of your prescriptions. Take these to Marijuana For Trauma. Register with them – cost $49.

They refer you to a doctor who will give you a videolink appt. This takes about 2 weeks. During this conversation, he will go over the types of marijuana and the way you take it. It helps to have talked to the people at M for T and looked at their info first, so you have an idea what you want.

Marijuana is comprised of two main chemicals:

THC is the form that has psychogenic effects. It also relieves pain and inflammation, is an anti-spasmodic and muscle relaxant. It has 20 times the anti-inflammatory power of aspirin; twice that of hydrocortisone.

CBD acts to counterbalanceTHC. It is anti-inflammatory and also works for pain, particularly neuropathic pain.

The two forms are synergistic, working better combined than separately. So you want, most likely, high CBD; low or no THC.

You will need to decide in what form to take it: smoking, vaping, cooking (for example, brownies) or as a sublingual oil. Note: if you want to bypass the liver and any psychogenic or digestive effects, it can be made into a topical cream (recipe) or suppositories (instructions).

You then have to select which producer you want to deal with and also be signed up as a medical marijuana user. Then the doctor in Toronto sends in the precriptions, the producer puts together the order and it is mailed to you. This takes at least another 2 weeks.

You have to titrate the marijuana up every 3 days till you are at a dose that works well for you and then stay on the dose for at least a month. You stay on existing meds and if the marijuana works, you then go back to your GP to reduce your meds. Don’t reduce opioids on your own.